Fishing Report Archives

The summer ledge fishing this year has been phenomenal to say the least. It went from good to great. When you have those catch-them-every-cast moments and everyone in the boat has a fish on at the same time you know its special. This year the plastic worm in 10 and 7 inch sizes caught most of the ledge fish with the long leader Carolina rig coming in as a close 2nd place.

I feel like I was able get on the ledge fish earlier than a lot of anglers and then stay ahead of the game by finding new areas that weren’t being fished that hard. Many of the areas that had hundreds of bass hanging around for weeks got fished hard every day until they got fished out.

There were twice as many anglers out this year fishing the famous Kentucky Lake largemouth bass holes so the good spots have taken a beating and those fish have left those areas.

I had many days this summer where our best five fish would have been in the 20-lbs range. Its important to know that during all of the great days of ledge fishing this summer forward facing sonar was not that big of a part of our success. When there are a hundred bass hanging around coming and going you don’t have to have it.

The Garmin Livescope certainly helped here and there but it was not necessary for success. I have been ledge fishing since 1990 and I caught plenty of big fish without waypoints or Livescope. An angler can definitely increase their catch with Livescope and even single out the big fish while playing video bass fishing. I have forward facing sonar and its very cool. The Livescope is going to make me a better fisherman. I’ll be able to combine it with 30 years of ledge fishing experience.

The old ways + the new ways = success.

I watched a young angler using his Livescope starring down at it making casts but not catching many. He left and I moved in and started catching them quickly. The secret was the casting angle.

We are almost done with the first week of July and the summer ledge fishing is starting to get tougher. Very soon a lot of shad and bass will begin to move to the shallows. The bass follow the shad to shallow flats on the main lake and even to the back ends of creek arms.

In the shallow areas top water fishing starts to get really good. Get your stick baits, whopper ploppers, and other topwater baits out for some exciting fishing that will last until November.

If you’re in town fishing for fun or here preparing for a tournament I am sure I can help you in either department. If you just want to enjoy a day of catching quality bass, panfish, catfish or are wanting to learn how to effectively fish offshore I am as good as it gets!

I had excellent results in my career as a baseball and wrestling coach and use the same skills to help my clients learn bass fishing. I have over thirty years of ledge fishing experience and have spent 4000 hours diving underwater on various bodies of water observing fish in their home.

If you want to book a trip with me please try to call me as the communication over the phone is much more effective and consumes less time than emails. I do respond to all forms of communication as quick as I can.

Please check out and like/follow my Shelldivers Guide Service Facebook page. I will have additional pictures posted there; some are underwater photos of fish and shellbeds.